RWANDA

30.03.08 - Set alarm for 5am was very excited about seeing the gorillas, drove to the HQ which was just up the road and ended up getting there very early and were the first people there, even beating the guides.  Thought we needed the exercise so asked to be in the group going to the Susa group which is the biggest with 39 gorillas and also the furthest away.  Met Philip & Juliet who are tour operators and were staying in a newly opened lodge up the road in order to rate it.  They asked if we could give them a lift to the start of the gorilla walk which was about and hour’s drive from the HQ to save the owner of the lodge having to take them.  Got to the start of the walk and parked up, then it was about an hour or so walk just to get to the wall of the park.  Unfortunately the gorillas were on the move so we could not take a direct path up to them which made the walk even longer.  Once we reached the park we only had to walk for about half an hour until we met up with the trackers and then the gorillas.  The experience was amazing you end up sat in the middle of the group, most of them we could see but some were hidden in the trees and you could only hear them moving around.  The group has 4 silverbacks the biggest one did not move the whole time we were there, however 2 of the others tried scaring us by pretending to charge although a few noises made by the tracker and they soon retreated.  One blackback also thought he would try and scare us, but again a couple of grunts from the tracker and he too ran away.  You spend an hour with the gorillas moving round into different positions; they really didn’t seem bothered we were there at all, especially the babies who played constantly.  Once our hour was up we had the long trek back down the mountain, on and off it rained but nothing too much considering we are now in the middle of their rainy season.  Drove Philip & Juliet back to their lodge the Sabinyo Silverback Lodge where we were invited for lunch by the owner as a thank you.  The lodge turned out to be a $700 pn lodge and had been only open for a few months.  The place is lovely with a stunning view, we had our boots taken to be cleaned before sitting down to a 3 course meal, how the other half live!  With much regret we finally made it back to our guest house very full and a little tipsy from the wine.  Very good day, the gorillas are expensive but worth every penny and far exceeded our expectations, don’t be put off by the cost as the money goes towards conservation and you will never forget the experience.

31.03.08 - Intended to drive to Kibuye today, stopping in Gisenyi for lunch, however between Gisenyi and Ruhengeri, Alan & Taryn’s power steering pump went, so we decided to drive direct to Kigali to find a garage.  Reached Kigali mid afternoon and went to the One Love Project which is a community based place which helps people who need artificial limbs.  Unfortunately they were not keen on us camping and wanted us to take a cottage each, which they actually charged us, less for than camping would have been.  The place has certainly seen better days, the room’s smell of damp, but they are currently renovating them so hopefully they should be nice again soon.  Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the bar making the most of their free wifi and drinking far too much, the food from the restaurant was also very good.

01.04.08 - First job today was to try to find somewhere a little nicer to stay, after looking at a few places we settled on the Auberge La Caverne where instead of having 2 rooms we were offered the house which has 3 bedrooms and a nice living area.  Whilst we were driving around, Troy started having problems with his clutch.  We unpacked everything from the car and Troy & Alan left to now take both cars to the garage.  They didn’t return for several hours, however for us it was good news as it was only the slave cylinder of which Troy had a spare, he also got them to do an axle and gearbox oil change as he was feeling lazy and wanted to get back to get on the beer, this meant our car would be finished in the morning.  For Alan it was not quite so good as they did not have the part at the garage; however they were trying to source it.
Had a nice meal which they even delivered to the house so we didn’t even have to walk to the restaurant, felt very lazy but was very nice.

02.04.08 - Kevin & Philippa arrived this morning as they also had problems with their Land rover, so after unloading all their stuff Troy, Alan and Kevin all drove to the garage.  Taryn, Philippa and I went for a walk to the mall to check out the supermarket which turned out to be as dear or in some cases dearer than at home, so we didn’t end up getting anything as thought we would try to find a cheaper one.  Finally Troy returned late afternoon with our car and Kevin also had theirs but they were still having trouble sourcing the part for Alan’s.  Went to the New Cactus restaurant for a lovely meal and lots of wine.  Got back to house and watched a film thanks to Kevin & Philippa who have a projector with them, was like being in a cinema.

03.04.08 - Caught up on the washing that has been piling up as the weather has been too bad to do any.  Went to the Genocide memorial which really makes you think, it not only has about the 1994 Rwanda Genocide but others through history which shown like that you realise it has happened more times than you perhaps remember.  The garage came up with a ridiculous price of $1600 for the part with a 3 week lead time, so Alan ended up ordering one from the UK for $350 including courier fees with a delivery of 5 days.  Troy and Alan got steaming drunk courtesy of Kevin who had a bottle of Joseph Barry he wanted to share.  

04.04.08 - Today was about hangovers for 2 people!!  After a visit to 4 or 5 different part shops seeking a few service items, Alan stumbled upon a good second hand power steering pump, it just shows the garage didn’t try very hard, moral of the story go out and look for yourself.  I went to the bank to change the rest of our travellers cheques into dollars, whilst Troy and the boys went to the garage with the new part, whilst en route the UJ joint on Kevin’s car that had been replaced yesterday disintegrated, 2 minutes later a Ugandan guy named Dennis who is here clearing mines pulled over in a Land rover and said ‘I noticed a Land rover in trouble, can I help you?’ offering his mechanic free of charge.  An hour later all was repaired and they were back on the road.  Finally Alan’s car was finished and Kevin got his money back for the job they had done the day before.  The garage is not a place to recommend but is the biggest Land rover place in Kigali.  Settled down for the evening with ‘oceans 13’ on our cinema like screen, we still cannot believe they brought a projector with them!! 

05 to 07.04.08 - Spent next couple of days catching up on chores while Troy tinkered with the Land rover, we had planned to leave Kigali on the 7^th but were advised by the receptionist in the hotel that it was the anniversary of the start of the Genocide and so would not be a good day to travel as you are meant to stay in your homes as a mark of respect.  Philippa & Kevin still had to leave as they were doing gorilla trekking on the Tuesday.  Managed to get caught up on all internet things, thanks to the free wifi in the hotel.  It is amazing how not having tv for months means that when you do have access to one you watch any old rubbish, we managed to spend 3 days solid watching nothing but sky news we would sit for hours while they repeated the same news stories over and over again, by now we decided we had certainly spent long enough in Kigali and was time to leave.

08.04.08 - Packed the car up, changed some money, did some shopping and we were then on the road to Kibuye.  However 30km out of Kigali and Alan’s car broke down again, this time it was a problem with a bolt being over tightened in the garage which stripped the thread meaning it would not tighten on the tensioner.  Whilst Alan & Troy were trying to find a way to bodge it so they could drive back to Kigali someone came and said he knew of a Land rover mechanic.  The mechanic arrived after about 20 mins by now there was quite an audience of people of all ages just standing and watching us, no one really said anything they just watched us do nothing, very strange!  The mechanic soon had the problem fixed and we were back on the road.  Before leaving Troy introduced us all and ‘thanked’ our audience for watching, they found this quite amusing!  Reached Kibuye late afternoon where we checked into the Bethanie Guesthouse, where again we are unable to camp but the rooms are reasonably priced and very nice.  Had dinner in the restaurant then off for an early night as we all seemed to be feeling less than 100%. 

09.04.08 - Troy’s birthday today and what a place to spend it the guesthouse is situated on Lake Kivu, our room has its own patio looking over the lake which is only a couple of metres away.  Troy decided with a view like that he couldn’t see the point in driving anywhere else for the day so we just stayed there and relaxed.  Troy managed to use his rod again and this time did manage to catch a few little fish although none were big enough to do anything with except throw them back.  Had a few drinks in the evening to celebrate whilst watching another storm.

10.04.08 - Woke to rain, unfortunately the car was parked quite a way from the room and we got soaked carry everything up and packing the car.  Soon back on the road heading for Butare, would you believe it as soon as we left the lake the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Reached Butare just before lunch and went to the National Museum for a look around.  The museum is quite interesting giving the history of Rwanda and how they used to live and hunt etc.  The original plan was to go to the Nyungwe forest but were unsure what to do as every time we get anywhere like that it rains.  After stopping for lunch we decided to drive to Gikongoro to find somewhere to stay and hopefully go to the forest the following day.  Found a guesthouse which was pretty basic but the rooms were clean enough, however the guy wanted 14000Frw pn which made the rooms quite expensive for what they were.  Whilst we were thinking about it we got chatting to a South African guy John who was having a drink in the garden, he works in Rwanda and knows the owner of the guest house; he offered to ring him for us as he thought the manager guy was trying to overcharge us.  Sure enough after speaking to the owner we find the actual price for a room is 5000Frw.  The manager didn’t seem too happy that we went behind his back but what can he do.  Philippa & Kevin arrived a little after us; we all spent the evening in the bar as usual.

11.04.08 - Packed up and left for the forest, reached the HQ and enquired about prices.  We were told that the fee to enter the park was 20US$ pp which included a walk on one of their marked routes and the fee for a guide of which we said we didn’t want.  You can also do chimp and monkey walks which costs extra at 50US$ and 30US$, however having already done these we decided to just do a forest walk.  We all paid our money and were just leaving when he mentioned that any activities cost extra, we explained to him again that we didn’t want to do any of the activities we just wanted to do a forest walk on one of their marked trails without a guide, we were then told this would cost us and extra 30US$ pp.  Soon an argument ensued which ended us with asking for our money back, you are allowed to drive through the forest for free as long as you don’t stop to take pictures so what had we paid 20US$ for, if we can’t get out and walk we were just paying for the privilege to take photos of a forest from the road.  We thought that 50US$ pp was far too much for walk.  The guy refused to return our money and got the manager down who also would not listen.  The lonely planet guide says that unguided walks are included in the entrance fee, their own price lists only mentions having to pay extra for primate walks and the guy said walks were included, but they could not see why we were upset and were not willing to pay anymore.  In the end after much arguing Troy reached over the desk and took the money back and we walked out, however when we tried to drive out all the guides stood in front of our cars and would not let us pass, why they were doing it we have no idea but eventually they moved and let us leave.  In their greediness they have been very stupid as the 6 of us had paid the entrance fee and we were all intending on camping in the forest that night which also costs 20US$ pp so because they then tried to con more money out of us they lost out on 240US$ and all the manager could do was laugh when we pointed this out to him.  By now we were all losing our patience in Rwanda so decided to head for Kigali to stock up on money and food and drive to Lake Muhazi for a couple of days before we leave for Tanzania.  Got to the lake just before it got dark, set up camp in a very quiet and secluded area in the grounds of a hotel right on the bank of the lake.  Whilst sitting around the fire we were visited by the army who were patrolling the lake in their boat and came to see what we were doing, what they can be patrolling we have no idea but they didn’t tell us it was unsafe to be there so assume the place is safe enough.

12.04.08 - As always whenever we go anywhere near a lake it rains, the day started off very wet with us sheltering in the car.  By lunchtime it had cleared up nicely, Troy decided to check out the small leak we had seen the day before and found that the garage had not put the filler plug for the gear oil back, Troy ended up having to drain the oil only to find they had managed to bodge a replacement that could now not be removed.  Troy managed to fix it in the end but was obviously very annoyed, all three cars that went into the garage they managed to break something else whilst fixing the original problem.  Troy spent the rest of the day sat on the bank of the lake with his fishing rod; he managed to catch a couple of small fish but nothing great.  Just as it was staring to get dark Alan asked if he could have a go with a cricket he had caught, well the hook could not have hardly touched the water when what appeared to be a huge fish took it, however only being a kids rod the fish was far too big for it and the rod snapped.  Troy went running over to help Alan who still had hold of the line when suddenly that snapped as well; all Alan had left was the handle and reel which he then gave back to Troy.  All the months it took to find that rod and within 30 seconds it was gone, they both tried fishing for a while longer with just the handle and line but only managed to catch a few small fish.  Later that evening we were all sat around a huge campfire when suddenly we realised we were surrounded by army men with guns, they were different from the ones in the boat the night before and were very curious as to what we were doing there.  We were told earlier that day that the president’s farm is directly on the other side of the lake and that was why there is such a big presence, happy that we were only camping and not a threat they finally left.  

13.04.08 - Headed for the border, stopping at a jet wash to get the cars cleaned as we now had months of mud covering it.  Border was very straightforward although we had got there at lunchtime and had to sit around and wait for the customs officials to return from lunch.  Drove for a couple of hours, before looking for somewhere to bush camp.  Found a lovely spot surrounded by trees although it turned out to be a route for the locals on their way home, we ended up with a small audience of people most of whom could not speak English just standing and watching us.  Once it started to get dark they soon left us, we then started to prepare our dinner as the fire was just about ready for cooking on, suddenly from nowhere it started pouring down, we all ran for cover leaving our jacket potatoes in the fire of which I was assured by Troy would not be put out by the ‘shower’.  An hour later after emerging from one of the most ferocious thunder storms we had ever seen the fire in tatters and our jacket potatoes doing the backstroke, we decided it was dry crackers and an early night.  We had been in bed for about an hour reading and had just turned the light off when we heard someone singing and walking around outside, next we could hear a blowing noise and realise that someone was trying very successfully to get our wet fire started.  Once the fire was going Troy stuck his head out the tent and was greeted by George a guy who lives in the house not far from our camp, how he got the fire going we have no idea but unfortunately by then everyone else was already asleep so could not appreciate his efforts, George then waved us goodnight explaining that he had to be up early in the morning to pray.


Final thoughts: Rwanda is a stunning beautiful and clean country, heavily over populated with almost (apart from the national parks) every square inch given over to agriculture.  With the genocide being kept fresh in their memories and a leader who seems to get the communities involved in everything, they seem to be making good progress in getting their country back on track.  Most of the road infrastructure is very good which always shows a nation with purpose.  Apart from the fact that you have to nail everything down or it gets stolen and the lack of concept of monetary worth to a tourist e.g. everything starts off at least quadruple the price with no sense of haggling we would recommend to all travellers to go see it because it is beautiful.